Whelchel Promotes Raise The Roof Campaign

Lisa Whelchel speaks to a small crowd during a fundraising dinner Saturday night in Warsaw while Ryan Helser colors in a chart to show how much money was raised. (Photo by Stacey Page)

TV actress turned author and public speaker was in Warsaw over the weekend to take part in the Warsaw Women’s Expo at the Orthopaedic Capital Center in Winona Lake.

She was also the guest of honor at a benefit dinner Saturday night for the Raise the Roof campaign for Touch of Life Missions.

Held at the Tourmaline Event Space in downtown Warsaw, the benefit dinner was to raise money for the Touch of Life Christian Academy in Haiti. The school has been a project of Touch of Life Missions to allow children of Haiti to receive an education toward a brighter future.

Led by Ryan and Veronica Helser, the Raise the Roof campaign is raising money to put a roof on the already constructed school in Desarmes, Haiti. Doors to the school were opened on Sept. 1, 2006, which allowed 120 children to attend school for the first time in their lives.

Welchel addressed the small crowd encouraging them to “Invest on Earth to invest in people because they do end up in eternity. God says, ‘Store up our treasures in Heaven,” she said, explaining how she interprets it to mean that we should help each other in this life to live in eternity.

Welchel said she once considered selling her worldly belongings and giving the money to those less fortunate, but discovered that God had a better plan. She recalled an eBay auction of her pink Mickey Mouse ears and how she was prepared to bid on them but “heard a voice. And I knew it was God because it wasn’t anything I would have said,” she told. That voice convinced her to let the auction go to the highest bidder.

At the conclusion of the auction, she said she emailed the winner and congratulated him. That email led to a meeting between the two and the man who won the ears gave them back to Whelchel. “It sounds cliché to say that you can’t out-give God, but it’s true.”

She encouraged those in attendance to give from their hearts for the Raise the Roof campaign and they would in turn be rewarded spiritually in the end.

The Touch of Life Missions not only provides the school facility in Haiti, they provide school uniforms, school supplies, and two hot meals each week for all students and teachers. It also employs five teachers, one administrator, two cooks and two other staff members who do various jobs for the school.

Each square on the chart represents $500. During the benefit dinner Saturday night, it was announced that over $4,000 had been raised.

Sponsors are still needed to maintain the school. A $10 donation each month provides the education for one child. A $20 donation per month helps two children, and $30 per month helps three children attend school.

One-time donations are also accepted and may be directed to Touch of Life Missions Department, Attn: Ryan and Veronica Helser, 2805 Glad St., Warsaw, IN 46582. For more information, visit www.touchoflifechurch.com or email [email protected].